JGuest
FNG
This year was one of the toughest whitetail hunts of my life. Not because the deer were sparse or I had to work harder than usual. I had a first, and it wasn't an enjoyable first. That first eventually brought me to Rokslide looking for ways to better myself as a hunter.
My brother, dad, and I still manage about 400 acres of the family homestead as the rest is underwater. we food plot about 40-50 acres of the 100 or so that could be planted. We've had varying success and this year was a banner year. Whitetail and mule deer bucks everywhere. No mule deer bigger than my biggest so I chose to focus on whitetail even though it was my year to harvest a mule deer buck.
This is Missouri River bottom stand/spot and stalk hunting in a highly active area and my dad tagged out the first day, my brother on day two, day three rolled around. Nothing really moving in the morning I haven't been at the right place during the right time yet. So I decided to go set up near a large cornfield to the south of the main bit of hunting ground. My brother and his wife came with.
About 30 min before dark a nice whitetail buck shows up at about 300 yards, but he's in the corn. I'm comfortable out to 350 as I've shot a handful of deer out that far with flat shooting guns using MPBR. This buck is in the 140-150 class with heavy antlers and some cool webbing and palmation. About 15 min of shooting light left and he steps out. I set on a rest get prepped and squeeze, boom, SWOCK. We give him 5-10 go down and investigate, no deer. Short version of a long story we looked for 12 hours or so only found one small pool of blood and he made it into the Missouri breaks which are tough, real tough, 45 degree slopes and cedar trees so thick I crawled for half a day. That's how I lost my first wounded animal in my 30's.
Last night of the hunt I hunted a section that often saw mule deer bucks transition through it and set my mind to kill one that wasn't great but was mature. About 30 min before sundown I got a wild hare and went down to the low river bottom piece we have which was adjacent to where I was hunting and hope for a whitetail. As we sat there the does started to stream by, 1, 3, 5 , 9 of them in classic fashion a fork horn shows up. there's 10 min of shooting light left now. It's the last day, I'm ready. At this point I'm getting worried it's tag soup or skip another deer hunt in the Black Hills. Out walks the buck below, one shot with the .243 and it's all over. Same story, boom, SWOCK, different result. All in all a great experience but it wasn't worth wounding another animal.
As to why I'm here, no more MPBR for me. It's time to move on to being dead on at the ranges I plan and train to shoot. Thanks all and thanks for all the useful info on this forum helping me get there.
My brother, dad, and I still manage about 400 acres of the family homestead as the rest is underwater. we food plot about 40-50 acres of the 100 or so that could be planted. We've had varying success and this year was a banner year. Whitetail and mule deer bucks everywhere. No mule deer bigger than my biggest so I chose to focus on whitetail even though it was my year to harvest a mule deer buck.
This is Missouri River bottom stand/spot and stalk hunting in a highly active area and my dad tagged out the first day, my brother on day two, day three rolled around. Nothing really moving in the morning I haven't been at the right place during the right time yet. So I decided to go set up near a large cornfield to the south of the main bit of hunting ground. My brother and his wife came with.
About 30 min before dark a nice whitetail buck shows up at about 300 yards, but he's in the corn. I'm comfortable out to 350 as I've shot a handful of deer out that far with flat shooting guns using MPBR. This buck is in the 140-150 class with heavy antlers and some cool webbing and palmation. About 15 min of shooting light left and he steps out. I set on a rest get prepped and squeeze, boom, SWOCK. We give him 5-10 go down and investigate, no deer. Short version of a long story we looked for 12 hours or so only found one small pool of blood and he made it into the Missouri breaks which are tough, real tough, 45 degree slopes and cedar trees so thick I crawled for half a day. That's how I lost my first wounded animal in my 30's.
Last night of the hunt I hunted a section that often saw mule deer bucks transition through it and set my mind to kill one that wasn't great but was mature. About 30 min before sundown I got a wild hare and went down to the low river bottom piece we have which was adjacent to where I was hunting and hope for a whitetail. As we sat there the does started to stream by, 1, 3, 5 , 9 of them in classic fashion a fork horn shows up. there's 10 min of shooting light left now. It's the last day, I'm ready. At this point I'm getting worried it's tag soup or skip another deer hunt in the Black Hills. Out walks the buck below, one shot with the .243 and it's all over. Same story, boom, SWOCK, different result. All in all a great experience but it wasn't worth wounding another animal.
As to why I'm here, no more MPBR for me. It's time to move on to being dead on at the ranges I plan and train to shoot. Thanks all and thanks for all the useful info on this forum helping me get there.
